Great Britain's qualification bid for the 2023 Davis Cup Finals kicked off in disappointing fashion as Dan Evans suffered a shock defeat against Colombian world number 253 Nicolas Mejia.
The 32-year-old went down 6-2 2-6 6-4 to Mejia in two hours and 31 minutes on Colombian clay, as the home favourite dropped to his knees in elation after picking up one of the biggest wins of his career.
With the boisterous crowd at the Pueblo Viejo Country Club behind him, Mejia got off to a dream start against a player sat 223 places higher than him in the ATP rankings.
A nervy first service game for Evans saw the Brit broken straight off the bat, and Mejia managed to hold for a 3-0 lead before quelling his counterpart for the remainder of the set.
Evans won just 55% of points behind his first serve in the opening set and was broken for a second time as Colombia banked a 1-0 lead, but the second set was a completely different story.
A rejuvenated Evans hit just two unforced errors compared to Mejia's 11 in the second set, winning five games on the bounce with a triple break for a 5-1 lead.
Mejia held to stay in the second set and got to 30-15 on the Evans serve, but the world number 30 ultimately levelled the contest with ease to force a pivotal third set.
Clearly feeling the effects of a confidence-sapping second set, Mejia gave up four break points in the opening game of the third, but he saved all four to hold.
Very little separated the two dogged competitors henceforth, but two double faults from Evans brought up two break points for Mejia in the eighth game, although the Colombian failed to convert either of them and eventually sent a forehand at the net wide as Evans held for 4-4.
A swift love hold for Mejia in the ninth game piled the pressure on Evans, who needed to hold to stay in the match, and a third double fault of the set was hardly the best way to start proceedings.
History would unfortunately repeat itself for the 32-year-old, who missed a forehand at the net and double-faulted again to bring up a pair of match points for the Colombian.
Evans saved one with a scorching serve down the T, but another failed net approach proved fatal for the Brit, as Mejia fired a brilliant backhand winner to settle the feisty contest.
Cameron Norrie is next up for Great Britain against world number 510 Nicolas Barrientos, before Evans returns alongside Neal Skupski to face Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in a doubles contest on Saturday. body check tags ::
